Sat 10 Nov 2007
Does Williams pay off student loans for some students but not others? A reader reports in this thread that
Williams is also extremely generous to alumni who choose to work in service-oriented jobs. They are paying off my Perkins loans, 25% a year, while I work as a teacher in a low income area. By the end of 5 years, my entire debt to Williams (about 10,000 dollars) will be paid off. My Stafford loans (which are paid directly to the federal government) are a slightly different story, but the government also helps pay down those loans for people in public service jobs.
Really? I have never heard of this program. Is it described anywhere on the web? Do many Ephs take advantage of it? What is the definition of “public service” used? Details, please.
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One Response to “Paying Off Loans?”
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Ken Thomas '93 says:
Perkins cancellation (Stafford similar) is available to the following classes as a condition of the program (summary lifted from OU FinAid website via first Google hit):
At least a decade ago, Teach for America positions were pro forma qualified under the first provision.
Since Perkins is administered by– and to some extent subsidized by the credit of– institutions, it may appear to the student that the granting institution is providing the cancellation. As far as I can tell from a quick glance, the cancellation is federally funded (or at best, would only affect the minor portion funded by the institution). Anyone who reads through the actual provisions can probably correct me here.
Regardless, note that a “teaching college” which saddles a graduate with $60K or more of debt under these programs would be effectively using these provisions to finance its existence, whereas a Williams student with similar career trajectory would, depending on income, either self-finance or rely on the endowment in one way or another.
I’ll leave to those who care to ask “who pays, specifically, and how much?” in such situations.
November 10th, 2007 at 4:14 pm